An economy that thrives
in the new global environment! A workforce educatedfor jobs that
pay a family-sustaining wage! America flourishing as a secure democracy
and world leader! Powerful demographic evidence points to a clear connection
between these ideals and the need for adult education and workforce skills
services
in America--on a scale unprecedented in history. Following two years of
study,
the National Commission on Adult Literacy calls for a program on the scale
of a “domestic Marshall plan” to achieve these goals.

The Commission’s
report, Reach Higher, AMERICA: Overcoming Crisis in
the U.S. Workforce, calls for a dramatically revamped service system
with the
capacity to effectively serve 20 million adults annually by the year 2020.
It also
calls for resetting the educational mission of this new system to demonstrated
readiness for postsecondary education and job training. The report recommends
specific actions to accomplish this with emphasis on groups most in need
of service
and on system accountability and results. State and federal government,
business
and labor, philanthropic groups, nonprofit organizations, and the general
public all
have a vital role in meeting the Commission’s vision for America’s
21st Century
workforce.